WEST DERBY HUNDRED 



manor descended in the latter family for about sixty 

 years,' passing to the Hulmes of Maghull.' 



David de Hulme died in 141 8 seised of lands 

 called Ainsdale, worth 40/. yearly, which he held of 

 the king, as duke of Lancaster, in socage.' In 

 1483 lands and fishings here were settled upon 

 Lawrence Hulme for life, and descended to his great- 

 grandson Richard, who died in 1539 seised of four 

 messuages, &c.* Edmund, his son and heir, was in 

 1555 defendant in a suit brought by Henry Halsall 

 for trespass in Meandale within the manor of Birkdale. 

 The former alleged that he was lord of the manor of 

 Ainsdale and had certain fishyards and lands adjacent 

 to Birkdale. The plaintiff denied that there was any 

 manor of Ainsdale ; he had 

 heard that a township so named 

 had once existed, but it had 

 been overflowed by the sea, and 

 no trace of it was left.' In 

 July, 1555, Edmund Hulme 

 released to Henry Halsall all 

 his right to the manors of 

 Halsall and Ainsdale, various 

 lands there, and a fishery.' 

 The Halsalls thus regained Ains- 

 dale ; but in 1630 the manors 

 of Birkdale, Meandale, and Ains- 

 dale were sold by Sir Cuthbert 

 Halsall to Robert Blundell of 

 Ince Blundell,' and they have since descended like 

 Ince.* 



The parochial chapel appears to 



CHURCH have stood originally in Raven Meols,' 

 but the site of the modern St. Luke's 

 Church, with its ancient burial ground," is now 

 within the limits of Formby. Little is known of its 

 history. In 1334 a settlement was made of a dispute 

 as to the tithes of the fishery at Raven Meols between 



Blundell of Ince. 

 Azure, ten billets, fi'*''j 

 three, t'wo and one or j 

 on a canton of the last 

 a ra'ven proper. 



WALTON 



the rectors of Walton and Sefton." The patronage 

 is attributed to the Halsalls " in the sixteenth century, 

 and the Formbys in the next." The rector of Walton 

 has, however, from 1723 presented the curate in 

 charge, as he does the vicars now. 



Its fate after the Reformation is not known. As it 

 was far distant from the parish church and the people 

 adhered to the old religion, it is probable that 

 services were not very regularly held ; in 1590 it was 

 not mentioned, while about 1612 it was reported 

 that only 'a reading minister' served this chapel." 

 The Commonwealth Surveyors of 1650 described the 

 chapel as ancient and parochial, and recommended 

 that the township be formed into one independent 

 parish." 



At the beginning of the eighteenth century, the 

 chief resident family having conformed to the Estab- 

 lished religion, and the old chapel having become 

 almost overwhelmed by the sand and otherwise unfit 

 for service,'* the church of St. Peter was in 1736 

 erected upon a piece of waste land in a central posi- 

 tion," some of the material of the old chapel being 

 used. This church, enlarged in 1830, is a plain 

 brick building, with a campanile containing one bell ; 

 the chancel was enlarged and a side chapel built in 

 1873. . 



The following have been among the curates and 

 vicars : — 



1558-63 Thomas Wolfall '« 

 1 604 Henry Hammond " 

 1 6 2 z Thomas Lydiate *" 

 1626 Roger Wright 

 1650 John Walton*' 

 1657 Peter Aspin wall " 

 to 1662 William Aspin wall '^ 

 oc. 1665 Edward Birchall "* 

 to 1698 George Birchall " 

 to 1702 — Coulborn 



married a Blundell. In a suit of 1323 

 respecting novel disseisin in Ainsdale 

 Gilbert de Halsall was defendant, the 

 plaintilFs being the abbot of Cockersand, 

 Nicholas, son of David Blundell, and 

 Henry de Walton and Margery his wife ; 

 Assize K, 425, m. i. 



^ In 1368 John de Ince and Emma his 

 wife, widow of Gilbert de Halsall, sued 

 Otes de Halsall for Emma's dower in six 

 messuages, 200 acres of land, &c. in 

 Ainsdale ; Otes called upon Richard son 

 of Gilbert to warrant him ; De Banc. R, 

 431, m. 345 </, 4i2</. 



2 See the account of Maghull. 



' Lanes. Inq. p. m. (Chet. Soc), i, 135. 

 Nothing is said of a * manor.' 



■* Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. vii, «., 9. 



® Duchy Plead. (Rec. Soc, Lanes, and 

 Ches.), iii, 218. 



« Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. bdle. 16, m. 



134. 



^ Gibson, Lydiate Hall, 90 ; see also 

 the accounts of Halsall and North 

 Meols. 



8 See the account of Ince Blundell. In 

 certain depositions of 1662, in a suit be- 

 tween Gerard and Blundell, an account is 

 given of a sturgeon being cast up at Ains- 

 dale ; Lydiate Hall, 121. 



» The oxgang held by the rector of 

 Walton has been mentioned in a previous 

 note ; and the church is mentioned in a 

 grant of land to Cockersand quoted above. 



Albin the priest and Robert the chap- 

 lain are also mentioned in charters 

 quoted. 



In 1340 William de Adbaston, paro- 

 chial chaplain (capellanus paroch') of 

 Raven Meols, was a trustee 5 Moore D. 



"• 54°, 545; 



^° An ancient stone coifin was found in 

 it some years ago, but reburied. For the 

 font see 'Trans. Hist, Soc. (New Ser.), xvii, 

 62. 



*The old Catholic families in the place 

 who have graves here have always been 

 accustomed to bury in the old churchyard,' 

 Ex inform. Mr. John Formby, 



It appears from a suit in 1557 that 

 marriages were then solemnized here ; 

 Duchy Plead, iii, 232. 



" Lich. Epis. Reg. iii, fol. 72. Roger, 

 bishop of Lichfield, decreed that the tithe of 

 the fish caught by the parishioners of Sef- 

 ton in the fishery of * Moeles ' should be 

 divided between the two rectors ; while 

 the tithe of the catch made by the 

 parishioners of Walton should belong 

 entirely to the rector of the latter 

 parish. 



12 See a preceding note. 



'* Richard Formby's 'manor and chapel 

 of Formby ' were mentioned in his mar- 

 riage settlement ; quoted on the pedigree 

 in Foster, Lanes. Pedigrees. 



" Kenyan MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com.), 13. 

 Robert Halsall, vicar of Walton, be- 

 queathed 61. Sd. to this chapel in 1598 ; 

 Raines, Lanes. MSS, xxiv. 



15 Commonw, Ch, Surv. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, 

 and Ches.), 82. The tithes of the town- 

 ship, valued at £70 a year and the rent 

 of a cottage, I2d. were paid to the in- 



51 



cumbent at that time, he giving j^io a 

 year to the wife of Dr. Clare, late rector 

 of Walton. 



1^ Bishop Gastrell in 171 8 found the 

 income of the curate to be ^^23 4_i., of 

 which j^20 was paid by the rector of 

 Walton, the rest being fees. There were 

 two wardens ; Notitia Cestr. (Chet. Soc), 

 ii, 227. 



^' A brief was obtained in 174.2 and 

 j^i,i54 was raised j ibid, 228. This was 

 no doubt to pay the debt, which was 

 cleared off in 1746 j the sentence of con- 

 secration of the new chapel is dated 



18 Duc/iy Plead, iii, 256 ; Visit. List 

 of 1563 at Chest. He did not appear 

 in 1565. 



1^ Visit. He was presented for neg- 

 lecting to catechize and for marrying 

 divers persons without licence. The 

 curacy was vacant in 16095 Visit. List. 

 John Burrowes was 'reader' in 16105 

 Raines MSS. (Chet. Lib.), xxii, 74. 



20 Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, and Ches.), i, 



65. 



21 Commoniu. Ch. Surv. 82. 



22 Plund. Mins. Accts. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, 

 and Ches,), ii, 206. He was nominated 

 by the inhabitants. 



23 Supposed to have been silenced by 

 the Uniformity Act in 1662. * William' 

 may be an error for * Peter.' 



2-* Visit. List ; inquiry was to be made 

 as to his ordination. 



25 Will proved at Chester, 1698 ; not 

 named in the Visit. List of 1691. 



